Innocence Read Online Free PDF

thought had occurred to me.”
    Finn waved his hand dismissively. “You don’t know Cavanaugh, then. He’ll see right through this. If anything, he’d be harder on me than he would on someone he doesn’t know. He’ll probably be so insulted, he’ll bounce me right out of the courtroom.”
    “In which case, what have you really got to lose?” Dobson asked.
    “You mean besides my credibility?” Finn responded. “I think the more relevant question is: What have I got to gain?”
    “A chance to do something good?” Dobson offered.
    The laugh that came from his throat almost choked Finn. “You clearly didn’t do enough research on me.”
    Dobson considered this for a moment. “You’re still friends with Preston Holland, right?” Finn gave a noncommittal tilt of his head. “He was the one who sent me to you. He retired last year, but he still does some work in the legal community. He said he hadn’t talked to you in a while, but he claimed you were one of the best trial lawyers he’d ever seen. Preston isn’t someone given to overstatement. He said that with the right case, you could be one of the all-time greats.” Dobson looked around the plain conference room. “Are you happy doing what you’re doing now? Paying hookers to rat out husbands in divorce cases so your gold-digging clients can keep their homes in Weston? Getting drug dealers and thugs out on bail so they can run their scams while waiting to go up to the pen at Concord? Cleaning up some fat cats’ DUIs? Is this really what you were meant to do?”
    Finn felt as if he’d been slapped, and he reacted angrily. “I’m not at Howery, Black anymore,” he spat out. “Principles can be expensive, and I’ve got to eat.”
    Dobson’s look hardened. “Fine,” he said. “If it turns out Salazar’s innocent, I’ll give you the inside track on his civil rights case against the city for false imprisonment and deprivation of liberty. Cases like that seem to be settling out at up to five hundred thousand dollars for every year spent in jail. Salazar’s been in for fifteen. That could come to over seven million. Maybe more if you win at trial instead of settling. On contingency, you’d net well over two million. Not a bad take.” He pushed the file back toward Finn.
    Finn opened the file and flipped through it once more, scratching his head. He was tempted, he had to admit; not just by the money but by the challenge. On the other hand, he recognized that it could be a rabbit hole, and he would likely spend endless hours running through a blind maze without anything to show for it. He couldn’t afford to give away his services with quite the abandon lawyers from the large firms could. And then there was Kozlowski. The private detective hadn’t spoken during the meeting, but he had acknowledged knowing Madeline Steele. Kozlowski was practically Finn’s partner, and Finn couldn’t risk upsetting his close working relationship with the man lightly. More than that, while neither of them would ever admit it, they were friends, and Finn had precious few real friends.
    He looked up from the file. “One question,” he said.
    “Shoot,” Dobson replied.
    “Why do you care so much?”
    “I told you, I do work with the Innocence Proj—”
    “Don’t give me that bullshit,” Finn cut him off. “There must be hundreds of cases like this, where all you’ve got is a mere possibility of innocence. Why spend so much time and effort on this one case when you could just move on to the next?”
    Dobson thought for a long moment. Then he stood up, put on his coat, and picked up his briefcase. He walked to the door and opened it. Looking back at Finn, he said, “You can answer that question for yourself tomorrow.”
    “How?” Finn asked.
    “It’s visiting day at Billerica. I’m taking you to meet Vincente Salazar.”
    z
    “You pissed?”
    Finn was guiding his battered MG convertible through the streets of downtown Boston, toward the river and out